Friday, April 18, 2008

Earthquake

Yes, I said the "Rapture" prayer this morning as I jumped out of bed to investigate the cause of the house shaking.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

My Third Grade Beau

Actually, the title is a bit misleading, because at the time I was in 2nd grade and he was in 3rd grade...yes, I was seeing an older man. We were in the same class together, a split class with Mr. Ott. Apparently there were only enough 2nd graders for half a class and only enough 3rd graders for half a class so they combined us.

It was probably a relationship on the rebound. My 1st grade beau, Craig, had just dumped me for one of the other third graders in our class, even though he and I were part of a foursome of desks and we would play footsies underneath the desks while Mr. Ott read us the Hardy Boys and Boxcar Children. We even had skated the couples skates at the Idyl Wyld. Ultimately he chose an older woman, a blonde, and I was left in the cold.

As most relationships on the rebound go, my third grade beau and I didn't last long. Middle school, high school, and college came and went without another encounter with him...until last week. Our paths crossed in a work setting. "I know you from somewhere," he said. "I never forget a face." I tried to figure out who he was without asking his name, but I didn't recognize him. Then I saw his name (which will remain anonymous to protect the innocent.) "Wow, I haven't seen you in a long time. Weren't you my third grade boyfriend?" He agreed that yes, he was, and he even thought he still had a picture of me at his house. Of course, I still look almost exactly like I did when I was in third grade, with my short red hair and freckles. I mentioned that he, however, had changed quite a bit, especially the full beard he had that I am pretty sure wasn't there when he was nine. We chatted for a little while and caught up with our lives, and then he was gone.

My 2nd grade relationship must have had some sort of impact on me, because I didn't have another boyfriend until 6th grade. The scars from my 2nd grade relationship must have remained because my 6th grade beau and I didn't last long either...I felt suffocated because when it came time to work in groups in class, he always wanted to work with me and didn't want me to be in a group with my girlfriends. I broke up with him via a note in Industrial Arts class. He was wearing his boy scout uniform that day.

It's a wonder that I was able to put all of that behind me and am able to be married today.

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

The Wuertleys Visit the Big City

Many of our friends were going somewhere "big" for Spring Break, but our family decided to forego the long trip and just spend one night in Indianapolis for our big Spring Break outing. Items on our "to do" list while in Indianapolis - go to Build a Bear, visit the Children's Museum, eat at the Old Spaghetti factory and Cheeseburger in Paradise, and swim at the hotel. The first major decision we had to make to plan the trip was our accomodations. I told Jason I did not want to spend the night in a crummy hotel in Indianapolis when we only live an hour away, so we typed in an offer for a 4 star hotel (one that we thought was pretty low but after hearing everyone else's success stories I guess we weren't so smart after all) and were pleased to get accomdations at the Omni in downtown Indianapolis. Our family usually stays at the Super 8 or Budget Host, so we were pretty excited to be staying at such a fancy hotel.

After a fun but VERY expensive trip to Build a Bear, we headed to check into the Omni. At the Super 8 or Budget host, the check in procedure goes as follows - Jason pulls up to the front door, leaves the car running while I stay with the kids, he checks in, gets our keys, gets back in the car, we pull around to the closest parking space to the outside enrance to our room, we all take a load up, I start unpacking, and he unloads the rest of the car. Apparently this procedure is not what happens at a 4 star hotel. We knew we were in trouble when we pulled up to the front and several young men in blue suits were standing by several pull racks for luggage. Uggh, valet parking. We both agreed that we would respectfully tell them we could get our own luggage. However, when Jason inquired about parking to one of the young men, he said our two options were to do the valet parking or to park in the closest overnight parking lot 3 blocks away. The valet parking was $25, the overnight lot parking was $18. For $7, we figured that was worth not dragging all of our stuff across Indianapolis. Then came the issue of the bags. Sure, we would pay the $25 for valet, but we were NOT going to have them take our bags and then have to tip them for that on top. So we started to unload. This is what we initially thought we would be able to carry ourselves (in one trip, of course, because they were going to take our car as soon as we left, and there was a line forming behind our car so we had to hurry) - 4 bags (one for each of us), Jason's laptop, two build a bear animals IN THEIR BOXES, two bitty babies, the bitty baby suitcase, the bitty baby stroller, the snack bag, and a sleeping 5 year old. Needless to say we didn't get far before we broke down and enlisted the help of the man.

Jason and I headed upstairs with the girls to our room. We were feeling a little uneasy about getting our "stuff," but less than a minute later the door knocked and we had our luggage. Jason got out his wallet for the tip, and having no idea really what to give him, had no less than a $10, so we had to give this man $10 for dragging our junk to our room. $35 later the price on priceline wasn't seeming like such a good deal.

After a wonderful meal at the Spaghetti Factory, we headed back to the hotel to swim. Jason and the girls changed into swimsuits (I wasn't in the mood to swim) and we headed to the pool. We didn't really know where the pool was, but Jason figured we would just "run into it." We went to the lower level and hearing dinner music in the background and not seeing anyone around, Jason said to wait where we were while he went to check it out. I didn't realize he wanted me to hold the elevator door open, so it shut, trapping me, my two girls in nothing but swimsuits and towels, and Jason in his swim trunks and a t-shirt on the lower level right next to...a private dinner party. Luckily the next people off the elevator was a family, and they pointed us in the opposite direction to the pool.

After swimming in a very unpopulated pool (I don't think a lot of families stay at the Omni) we went back upstairs to our room to find that someone had turned down the covers on our bed and left mints and cookies. Since the cokes in the refrigerator were $3.50 and the bath salts were $7.50, we were a little nervous to eat any of these snacks, but we took them assuming they were complimentary and thankfully didn't get charged.

All in all it was a great trip, although the Wuertley family was definitely out of its element. Elizabeth wrote a little note to the Omni management saying that it was the nicest hotel she had ever stayed in, so even she was impressed.